Unknown editing mode preventing deletion

I made a modification to an existing document, then saved it using a new name. I am now unable to edit the new document. Any edits turn the text tan. The existing text is retained, also tan, in a strike-through font. I have no idea what mode I am in [other than: GRUMPY!!] and cannot find a way to get back to normal copy/cut/paste editing.

Thanks in advance for any info anyone can provide

Hello,

you probably activated Track Changes mode - Edit -> Track Changes -> Record (CTRL+SHIFT+C).

To disable:

  • Edit -> Track Changes -> Record (CTRL+SHIFT+C)
  • Edit -> Track Changes -> Accept All

Hope that helps

Yes, thank you, that was exactly what was wrong! Thanks for the help!

Please mark the answer correct by clicking the check mark (:heavy_check_mark:) next to the answer. Thanks in advance …

I just tried to recreate the situation, and discovered that the correct key combo is:
(CMD+SHIFT+C)
When I first tried the key combo, I typed what you meant (CMD) even though you instructed (CTRL). This morning, I went back and tried to recreate the situation. Discovered the error. Or, maybe it’s not an error in the Windoze World. I failed to mention that I was using a Mac, though I live in both Worlds. Given the keyboard spacing, I’m completely baffled about how I hit those three keys. Though I obviously must’ve.

I have wished, for years - decades, actually - that word processors with the power to edit complex documents arrived with a “BASIC/COMPLEX” switch that’s set to “BASIC” by default. Which would gray the “COMPLEX” features in the interface. In this particular episode of “Things Go Awry”, I could see that I had fallen into a mode where changes were being recorded alongside the original. I was on a short deadline. I tried searching the Help files - but had no idea what to use for search terms. After some failed searches, I gave up and retyped what I had typed the hour before. Missed the deadline. In the end, most [but not all] was well.

I stopped briefly to consider how many times I’ve been roadblocked, over the years, by stumbling into booby trap features like this one. Or by needing a feature on a word processor that’s new to me, but unable to find it in the forest of available features. The stage I’m in, now, with this word processor …

And this doesn’t answer a (your) question but express a deep frustration … but in turn complex/basic is a matter of your personal view. From my view Complex settings are in Tools -> Options -> LibreOffice -> Advanced -> Button: Open Expert Configuration and none of those, which doesnt have a UI equivalent, can be changed by a keyboard stroke or another inadvertent action.

You are right, of course, that complexity is in the eye of the beholder. I’ve done most of my writing over the last 20 years using Word Pad or TextEdit, since I’ve seldom needed anything more complicated than RTF can provide. Used Word 5 when it came out for the Mac, but largely abandoned it as its upgrades turned it into an aircraft carrier towing a junkyard.